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Southern Score Builders Posts RM59 Million Revenue in 2Q

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 20, 2023 - (ACN Newswire) - Southern Score Builders Berhad (Bursa: SSB8, 0045), a provider of construction management services mainly for high-rise residential buildings, had...

Dennis Nguyen, Founder/Chairman/CEO of Nasdaq-listed Society Pass Inc (Nasdaq: SOPA) to Speak at NXT CX Summit Indonesia

SINGAPORE, Feb 20, 2023 - (ACN Newswire) - Society Pass Incorporated ("SoPa") (Nasdaq: SOPA), Southeast Asia's (SEA) next generation, data-driven, loyalty, fintech and e-commerce ecosystem, today announces that...

Director-General of Investment Promotion visits Bangkok to promote Hong Kong’s business opportunities

HONG KONG, Feb 20, 2023 - (ACN Newswire) - The Director-General of Investment Promotion at Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK), Mr Stephen Phillips, today (February 20) started his duty...

Hong Kong Investment Promotion Chief visits Bangkok to promote Hong Kong’s business opportunities

HONG KONG, Feb 20, 2023 - (ACN Newswire) - Mr Stephen Phillips, Director-General of Investment Promotion, Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK), an Agency of the Hong Kong Government, People's...

Dah Sing Bank and Friends of the Earth (HK) Jointly Present Property and Construction Industry ESG Forum for SMEs

HONG KONG, June 27, 2022 - (ACN Newswire) - The first industry forum ("the Forum") under the "SME ESG Best Practices Recognition Programme" ("the Programme") took place today...

VCREDIT Announces a Final Dividend of HK15 cents

HONG KONG, Mar 24, 2022 - (ACN Newswire) - VCREDIT Holdings Limited ("VCREDIT" or the "Group"; stock code: 2003.HK), a leading independent online consumer finance provider in China, is pleased to announce its audited consolidated results for the year ended 31 December 2021 (the "Year").

During the Year, the Group's total income increased significantly by 34.4% year-on-year to RMB3,458 million (2020: RMB2,573 million). The Group successfully achieved a turnaround, with net profit of RMB1,179 million (2020: net loss of RMB870 million). The Group is committed to creating sustainable investment returns for its shareholders, sharing the fruits of success in its operations. Therefore, following the declaration of dividend for the first time during its interim results, the Board has recommended a final dividend of HK15 cents per share for the Year. Together with the interim dividend and special dividend totalling HK20 cents per share already paid out, the full year dividend was HK35 per share.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic and evolving macro-economic environment brought challenges and uncertainties, VCREDIT delivered an outstanding operating performance and promising financial results during the Year driven by its technology-focused risk management and dynamic operational strategies. As a result of the recovery of the macro economy in China, the loan origination volume achieved significant growth, coupled with the Group's strategies in migrating to a higher-quality borrower and borrower acquisition model, the Group successfully improved its overall asset quality, leading to a significant increase in loan facilitation service fees by 115.9% to RMB1,540 million. The interest income amounted to RMB1,972 million, remained at a stable level as compared to the previous year.

The Group primarily offers two credit products through its pure online loan origination processes, including credit cards balance transfer products and consumption credit products, both of which are installment-based. For the Year, the total number of transactions was 3.4 million. The average term of the Group's credit products was approximately 9.4 months and the average loan size was approximately RMB11,965. The Group constantly adjusted its risk management and credit policies to maintain a prudent risk approach and efficiency of operations, so as to deliver outstanding business growth and a controllable credit risk performance.

Both quantity and quality of the customer base witnessed remarkable growth
As a result of its proactive management, enhanced communication channels, focused marketing and higher profile brand recognition, the Group successfully expanded its user base. The number of registered users of VCREDIT reached the level of "over 100 million" and increased to 112.5 million during the Year, which also led to a significant increase in its loan facilitation volume. Meanwhile, with the application of big data customer acquisition models driven by artificial intelligence, the Group improved its operational efficiency and enhanced the target customer identification and market penetration. In addition, the Group continued to refine its online APPs and system to enhance customer experience, which has improved the loyalty and retention rate of customers. Benefitting from this, the Group has successfully transitioned its customer base towards higher quality near-prime and prime borrowers, resulting in a significant improvement in its delinquency levels.

Optimising risk management to enhance asset quality
The Group places great emphasis on technology-focused risk management, iterating its credit risk models through the introduction of multi-dimension data sources, deep analytics of credit risk performance, and sophisticated testing. The Group also constantly adjusted its risk management and credit policies to maintain a prudent risk approach and efficiency of operations to deliver outstanding business growth and a controllable credit risk performance. In addition, the Group's credit risk management capability enables it to maintain its core competitiveness and well positions it to sustain healthy business growth and defend macroeconomic uncertainties. During the Year, through adjusting policy timely and optimising risk models, the Group managed to maintain its first payment delinquency ratio at an industry-wide low level of around 0.42%, which is conducive to improving the Group's asset quality.

Win-win collaboration and close partnership with funding partners
To support the rapid and sustainable development of its businesses, the Group worked closely with 69 external funding partners during the Year, including nationwide joint-stock commercial banks, consumer finance companies and trusts, that constituted a diverse and affluent funding pool. These long-term and stable collaborative relationships have allowed the Group to improve its funding costs. Furthermore, the Group's guarantee companies, third-party guarantee companies and asset management companies form an ecosystem that ensures the Group's funding flexibility and provides protection to its funding partners.

Outlook
Looking ahead, to create sustainable investment returns for its shareholders, the Group will seek to provide shareholders with regular dividends with a normal target payout ratio of between 20% to 30% of the Group's audited consolidated net profits each year, subject however to factors that the Board deems relevant namely the Group's financial results, available distributable reserves and cash position, etc.

At the same time, in order to contribute to further growth in its consumer finance business and fulfilling the financial needs of high-quality customers, the Group will strive to proactively hone its business strategies and upscale its technology, in order to better serve its customers to improve brand recognition. While enhancing risk management capability through ceaselessly evolving technology and artificial intelligence, the Group will strengthen regulated and long-term collaborations with licensed financial institutional partners and other business partners, in hopes of building a wide moat for business development. In addition to growing its existing consumer finance operation organically, the Group will also seek to expand and diversify its business through actively identifying suitable investment and acquisition targets, thus maintaining its competitiveness in an ever-changing macro environment.

About VCREDIT Holdings Limited (2003.HK)
VCREDIT Holdings Limited ("VCREDIT") is a leading player in China's consumer finance industry with over 10 years of track record. The Group caters to prime and near-prime borrowers underserved by traditional financial institutions by offering online consumption products. To match the funding needs for these products, the Group primarily engages institutional funding partners through three types of sustainable and scalable funding structures: trust lending, credit-enhanced loan facilitation and pure loan facilitation. Through such funding structures, VCREDIT provides institutional funding partners with solutions at varying levels of risk discretion and flexible profit-sharing arrangements.

Website: http://www.vcredit.com/


Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. www.acnnewswire.comVCREDIT Holdings Limited ("VCREDIT" or the "Group"; stock code: 2003.HK), a leading independent online consumer finance provider in China, is pleased to announce its audited consolidated results for the year ended 31 December 2021 (the "Year").

Far East Horizon Announces 2021 Annual Results

HONG KONG, Mar 16, 2022 - (ACN Newswire) - Far East Horizon Limited ("Far East Horizon" or the "Group"; stock code: 03360.HK), one of China's leading innovative financial companies focusing on the Chinese fundamental industries and leveraging the business model of integrating finance and industry to serve enterprises of greatest vitality with the support of the fast-growing and enormous economy in China, today announced its Results for the year ended 31 December, 2021 (the "Period under Review").


Financial Review
Looking back on 2021, amid complex domestic and international situations and various risks and challenges, China has consistently executed deep-rooted macro policies with a high level of openness, a flexible monetary policy and moderate liquidity. The stable macro environment in China provided favorable external conditions for the Group's sustainable and steady development during the period. In 2021, the Group recorded a total revenue of approximately RMB33.64 billion, achieving a rapid year-on-year growth of 15.85%. The financial and advisory segment maintained steady growth. Structurally, financial services continued to grow but the advisory services slightly declined. The industrial operation segment grew exponentially by 29.78%. Profit for the period attributable to the holders of ordinary shareholders of the Group during the period under review was approximately RMB5.51 billion, representing a year-on-year increase of 20.47%. The basic earnings per share was 1.36 RMB per share, and the average return on equity (ROE) was 14.57%. Overall, the Group has achieved a rapid growth. The board of directors of the Group passed the proposal of recommending a final dividend for year 2021 of HKD $0.42 per share.

During the period under review, the Group's financial structure continued to be optimized, and the non-leasing business accounted for 48.75% of total revenue (before taxes and surcharges), which continued to increase from 46.90% in 2020. Interest income contributed by new businesses such as inclusive finance, commercial factoring, PPP investment, overseas financing, and asset business accounted for 5.49% (2020: 3.54%); revenue from advisory services accounted for 9.41% (2020: 13.15%); the industrial operation segment accounted for 33.85% (2020: 30.21%).

Deep Rooted Growth in Financial Leasing Is Realized alongside Rapid Expansion in Other Financial Services

In terms of financial and advisory segment, the Group continued to penetrate in nine key industries, continued to enhance the service value, and accurately controlled the pace of business development, achieving growth in annual operating performance and customer base. For business operation, the iterative service model has been continuously upgraded, and more than 100 regional business units have been fully mobilized to track and tap over 100,000 target customers. Operationally, it will enhance service coverage and response time. Also, it will improve the efficiency of the entire project process through technological empowerment and project management. Based on the Group's resource endowment and system advantages, the product enhances the flexibility of multiple products and serves the diversified financing needs of different scenarios, different stages, and different customers. At the same time, services such as inclusive finance, PPP investment, asset management, overseas financing, and PE investment continued to amplify the growth. The boundaries of business formats continued to expand, and incremental value is shown.

In 2021, revenue (before taxes and surcharges) of the financial and advisory segment revenue was RMB 22.35 billion, representing a year-on-year increase of 9.77%, accounting for 66.15% of the total revenue (before taxes and surcharges). Among them, new businesses such as inclusive finance, factoring, PPP investment, overseas financing, and asset management contributed RMB 1.86 billion in interest income, a year-on-year increase of 79.78%.

In 2021, the Group's net interest spread was 3.21%, an increase of 36 basis points from 2.85% in the previous year. The increase in net interest spread was mainly due to a decrease of 22 basis point in the average cost of the Group's interest-bearing liabilities, while the average yield on interest-earning assets increased by 14 basis points.

The Group has consistently implemented a stable asset management policy and adopt a strict and conservative asset classification policy. At the end of 2021, the Group's assets under special mention accounted for 8.09%, a decrease of 1.47% from 9.56% in the same period last year. During the reporting period, asset quality has been improved. The non-performing asset ratio of the Group decreased slightly, and the overall asset quality was stable and controllable. The non-performing asset ratio in 2021 was 1.06%, a decrease of 4 basis points from 1.10% in 2020.

Rapidly Growing Industrial Operations Segment Enables New Pathways for Future Development

For industrial operation segment, in line with the national and regional coordinated development and the long-term goal of building a healthy China, Horizon Construction Development and Horizon Health have developed steadily. The revenue contribution of both business continues to rise. Both have become national leaders and achieved better social influence in terms of their scales. With the successful implantation of the Group's industrial operation strategy, revenues from the industrial operation segment maintained to grow exponentially. The industrial operation segment including Horizon Construction Development and Horizon Health achieved a total revenue (before taxes and surcharges) of RMB 11.43 billion, a year-on-year increase of 29.78% from the same period last year.

Equipment Operation:

Horizon Construction and Development is one of the largest equipment operation service providers in China, with diversified equipment and strong service capabilities. As a comprehensive equipment operation service provider in China, Horizon Construction Development was awarded the fourth place in the Top 50 Global Aerial Work Platform Leasing Companies in 2021 and the 24th in IRN World's Top 100 Rental Companies in 2021. In 2021, Horizon Construction Development have participated in on-site support projects such as the Beijing Winter Olympics venues, Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport, Beijing Daxing International Airport, China-Laos Railway, Beijing-Zhangjiakou High-speed Railway, Jingli Expressway and other projects, the centennial celebration of the founding of the Communist Party, the West Safety Games, the Shanghai International Import Expo.

At the same time, Horizon Construction and Development also actively participating in flood control and emergency rescue and epidemic prevention and control in many places. The efficient and professional service ability has been fully recognized by the market, and the brand awareness has been widely improved.

Horizon Construction and Development has scaled up its operations and strengthened its competitive advantages. As of the end of 2021, the number of service outlets reached 299, covering 182 cities. Its three major businesses of aerial work platform, new support system and new formwork system have all been leading in the market.

As of December 31, 2021, the total revenue of Horizon Construction and Development was RMB6.14 billion, representing a year-on-year increase of 67.63%. Net profit was RMB 709.62 million, a year-on-year increase of 43.83%.

Hospital Operation:

Horizon Healthcare is a large-scale social capital-run hospital group in China, dedicated to providing high-quality medical care accessible to everyone and building a century-old health brand. It consistently implements the management and operation model of "one system, one network, one hospital", fully takes advantages of the scale effects, builds a standardized operational network, and delivers a high-level medical rehabilitation and elder care resources to the vast number of people across the country.

As of the end of 2021, the number of controlled hospitals was 29 hospitals and the number of beds available was about 11,000. Horizon Healthcare forms a nationwide hospital operation network covering East China, South China, North China, Southwest China, Northeast China, and other regions. In the second half of 2021, new hospitals have been opened such as Siping Cancer Hospital, Nayong Xinli Hospital and Deyang No. 5 Hospital Zhongjiang Branch.

In line with the expansion of the hospital scale and the opening of new hospitals, the Group has also actively been hiring and retaining the talents of medical scientists. With the full operation of the new hospitals, the Group expects the gross profit will further improve in the future. During the period under review, the hospital operation business achieved revenue of approximately RMB4.00 billion, representing an increase of 16.13% over the same period of the previous year. Net profit reached 143.47 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 24.22%.

Diversified Financial Channels and Cost of Capital Show Competitive Advantage

As of December, 2021, the total sum of the Group's interest-bearing bank and other borrowings amounted to RMB 230.20 billion, representing an increase of 12.17%, which was mainly due to the increase in interest income caused by supporting the Group's business expansion.

During the period, in the face of the complicated financial environment at home and overseas, the Group adhered to the established strategy of "finance + industry" and made good progress in both indirect financing and direct financing. With an improved liability structure, the Group's financing costs have been maintained a clear advantage as compared to the peers.

In the direct financing market, the Group further enriched the bond portfolios, optimized product structure, introduced new innovative products such as renewable corporate bonds, short-term corporate bonds, asset-backed commercial papers, and reduced overall costs. The Group issued 3.09 billion green asset backed securities (ABS) in April 2021. The basic assets include 42 green projects such as photovoltaic power generation, solar power generation, urban landscaping, sewage treatment, etc. The Group consistently has practiced the concept of green development and motivated the sustainable development of the real economy. In November 2021, it successfully issued the first 150 million renewable development bond in the domestic market.

In the indirect financing market, the Group has strengthened the cooperation partnership with key banks based on existing financing channels in accordance with the company's strategic development needs. In June 2021, the Group successfully signed a USD 450 million overseas green club loan agreement with eight banks including Sumitomo Mitsui, Standard Chartered Bank and OCBC Bank, etc. for the field of renewable energy, pollution treatment, high-efficiency energy, etc.

In addition, the Group also maintained its advantages in cost control. In 2021, the Group's average cost ratio was 4.41%, a decrease of 22 basis points compared with the cost in 2020.

Mr. KONG Fanxing, Vice Chairman of the Board and CEO said: "Looking back on 2021, under the guidance of the "Finance + Industry" strategic framework, the Group successfully completed various business objectives. As China's internal and external environments have undergone profound changes, China's economy will enter a new stage of development in the future. The Group will continue to adhere to the established strategy, closely leverage the Chinese economy, consistently serve the real economy, continuously innovate service methods, enrich service methods, and improve service capabilities. For financial and advisory segment, we will continue to upgrade the traditional financial services business based on deep analysis of the various industries and customers. By taking advantage of the company's existing resource, we will expand new service methods and improve the overall comprehensive service capabilities in respect of the new businesses. In terms of industrial operations, Horizon Construction and Development will reinforce its leading position in the market and enhance management capabilities and operational efficiency. Under the operational model of "One System, One Network and One Hospital", Horizon Healthcare will strengthen its management, improve operational efficiency, and achieve long-term sustainable development. We believe the Group will create greater value for its shareholders, customers, partners, employees, government and other social parties."


Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. www.acnnewswire.comFar East Horizon Limited ("Far East Horizon" or the "Group"; stock code: 03360.HK), one of China's leading innovative financial companies focusing on the Chinese fundamental industries and leveraging the business model of integrating finance and industry to serve enterprises of greatest vitality with the support of the fast-growing and enormous economy in China

MDRT Expands Definition of Success in the Profession with New Awards and Rankings

HONG KONG, Mar 9, 2022 - (ACN Newswire) - MDRT, The Premier Association of Financial Professionals, has added to the portfolio of honors available for exceptional members - and their companies. MDRT has redefined and added new categories within its annual Company Rankings to recognize companies including those from Hong Kong that successfully invest in membership growth, retention and longevity. With this new initiative, MDRT recognizes and elevates the exceptional performance of companies and financial services professionals.

MDRT involves world's leading life insurance and financial services professionals from all over the world, and Hong Kong is also one of them. The number of MDRT members in Hong Kong jumped from 10,858 in 2020 to 15,719 in 2021 while insurance companies in the Hong Kong market also occupied 11 seats in the "2021 Top 100 Companies" list, two of which were ranked top one and two.

Randy Scritchfield, CFP, LUTCF, MDRT President commented "Hong Kong is a market full of potential and with abundant supply of talents. We expect and have confidence that the Hong Kong market will do well in the newly added awards and rise steadily in various rankings, achieving even better results in the coming future."

MDRT Expanded Company Rankings
Using a more holistic approach to measuring achievement, MDRT will restructure and add new categories to its Company Rankings beginning in 2022. These new categories will recognize companies that achieve excellence in the areas of MDRT membership growth, retention and longevity - areas which demonstrate a commitment to investing in their advisors' personal and professional development. The eight new rankings include:

-- Top 25 Companies - Total Membership Growth
-- Top 25 Companies - Percentage of Membership Growth
-- Top 25 Companies - Total Members who Rejoined
-- Top 25 Companies - Percentage of Members who Rejoined
-- Top 25 Companies - Total Number of 5-9 Year Members
-- Top 25 Companies - Percentage of 5-9 Year Members
-- Top 25 Companies - Total Number of Qualifying and Life Members
-- Top 25 Companies - Percentage of Qualifying and Life Members

"MDRT membership growth, retention and longevity are critical to companies that want to generate success within their ranks and demonstrate a commitment to excellence," said Randy Scritchfield, CFP, LUTCF, MDRT President. "These new categories provide an opportunity to celebrate the financial service professionals who achieve and maintain career long success with their MDRT membership and acknowledge the important role their companies play in supporting that success."

The 2022 Company Rankings will be announced in early July.

About MDRT
MDRT, The Premier Association of Financial Professionals, is a global, independent association of the world's leading life insurance and financial services professionals from more than 500 companies in 70 markets. MDRT members demonstrate exceptional professional knowledge, strict ethical conduct and outstanding client service. MDRT membership is recognized internationally as the standard of excellence in the life insurance and financial services business. For more information, please visit https://www.mdrt.org/ and follow them on Twitter @MDRtweet.



Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. www.acnnewswire.comMDRT, The Premier Association of Financial Professionals, has added to the portfolio of honors available for exceptional members - and their companies.

Academics detail take-off of China’s ice and snow economy

HONG KONG, Mar 8, 2022 - (ACN Newswire) - China has seen the fastest growth of its ice and snow economy in recent years and has become the world's largest market in the sector, according to a report released by Jilin University on Thursday.

Jilin University Key Laboratory of Ice and Snow Tourism Resorts Equipment and Intelligent Service Technology releases the 2022 China Ice and Snow Economic Development Index Report on Thursday. (Photo by Xu Lihua/For chinadaily.com.cn)

Xin Benlu, vice-dean of the School of Business and Management at Jilin University, oversees the release of the ice and snow report at a news conference on Thursday. (Photo by Xu Lihua/For chinadaily.com.cn)

Jilin University's Key Laboratory of Ice and Snow Tourism Resorts Equipment and Intelligent Service Technology, took a year to complete its 2022 China Ice and Snow Economic Development Index Report, which aims to measure and forecast China's ice and snow economic development using several ice and snow indicators.

The report proposed the "airplane theory" as a way to look at the ice and snow economy.

The concept uses the growing and escalating ice and snow demand, and ice and snow technology as the "airplane engine" of economic development.

The specific weights of the current stage of China's ice and snow economic development is set out in the report.
The "airplane's head" represents ice and snow sports, which account for 25 percent of that weight. The "airplane's fuselage" represents ice and snow tourism, which accounts for 40 percent of the weight. And the "two wings" that balance the development of the economy represent ice and snow equipment, and ice and snow culture, which account for 25 percent and 10 percent, respectively.

Data shows that China's ice and snow economic development has shown a linear upward trend since the beginning of the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020).

Other than in 2020, with the novel coronavirus pandemic impacting the sector, each year has succeeded the previous one, ever since 2016.

Driven by the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, the chain growth rate exceeded 34 percent in 2021, and the development of China's ice and snow economy is expected to maintain a chain growth rate of nearly 30 percent in 2022, the report said.

Along with the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, China's ice and snow tourism will show a new face in the international arena, and attract more foreign tourists in the post-pandemic era, the report said.

At the same time, with the release of Chinese people's enthusiasm for participating in and experiencing ice and snow tourism, ice and snow tourism consumption will play a massive role in boosting China's domestic demand and realizing the central domestic circulation, provincial medium circulation, and municipal microcirculation of China's ice and snow economy, the document said.

Xin Benlu, vice-dean of the School of Business and Management at Jilin University, said: "The report is one of the preliminary and basic works for the construction of the big data platform of the ice and snow economy. It is expected to be released annually to measure and forecast the development of China's ice and snow economic development."

Source: https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202202/20/WS62113909a310cdd39bc87b2e.html


Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. www.acnnewswire.comChina has seen the fastest growth of its ice and snow economy in recent years and has become the world's largest market in the sector, according to a report released by Jilin University on Thursday.

Successful Transfer Listing of IWS Group from GEM to Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong

HONG KONG, Mar 7, 2022 - (ACN Newswire) - IWS Group Holdings Limited ("IWS Group" or the "Group"), the largest security services provider in the public sector in Hong Kong(1) and an established facility services provider, has successfully transferred from GEM to Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (the "HKEX") today. The Group commenced trading under the stock code of 6663.

Live streaming listing ceremony of IWS Group Holdings Limited on HKEX

About IWS Group Holdings Limited
IWS Group Holdings Limited is the largest security services provider in the public sector in Hong Kong(1) and an established facility services provider specialising in the provision of security services and facility management services across public and private sectors in Hong Kong. The Group has over 10 years of experience in providing security services at railway stations and facilities, sea, land and railway immigration control points and public amenities as well as crowd coordination and management services at various large-scale events and emergency and critical incidents in Hong Kong.

(1) Frost & Sullivan, in terms of revenue in 2020

Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. www.acnnewswire.comIWS Group Holdings Limited ("IWS Group" or the "Group"), the largest security services provider in the public sector in Hong Kong and an established facility services provider, has successfully transferred from GEM to Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (the "HKEX") today.

Soft Space Enters into Strategic Partnership with JCB

KUALA LUMPUR & TOKYO, Jan 13, 2022 - (JCN Newswire) - The world's leading fintech player, Soft Space Sdn. Bhd. ("Soft Space"), has announced a new strategic partnership with Japan's only international payment brand, JCB Co. Ltd. ("JCB").

Virtual signing ceremony between Yoshiki Kaneko, Senior Executive Officer of JCB Co., Ltd. / President & COO of JCB International Co., Ltd., and Joel Tay, Chief Executive Officer of Soft Space

This strategic partnership is the first of its kind in Malaysia for the payment giant and involves a combination of US$5 million investment in Soft Space and a series of business collaborations that are aimed at capitalising on Soft Space's fintech-as-a-service business model, technology and regulatory knowhow, and JCB's global recognition, vast alliances and brand reach.

This is part of the first tranche of funding on the horizon for Soft Space with other investments to follow in the future. The partnership also demonstrates the confidence JCB has in Soft Space's management, technology portfolio and execution strategy in today's highly competitive fintech industry.

JCB owns and operates one of the largest payment schemes in Japan supporting about 37 million merchants and 140 million cardmembers around the world, by capitalising on Asia's economic growth. Backed by these assets, JCB has a vision to become "Asia's leading payment brand" and will expand the brand globally by leveraging its strength in Asia - especially in Southeast Asia ("SEA") - to become a competitive brand preferred by Japanese and international cardmembers.

To this end, JCB has targeted SEA as a strategic business enhancement region and has established its ASEAN Business Enhancement and Creation Department in Singapore last June to seek business opportunities within the region. This will serve as a template for further strategic alliances and investments within the region.

The strategic partnership with Soft Space also aims to harness synergies between the two parties and includes the expansion of JCB's merchant network, the establishment of card issuing solutions, and the provision of customer marketing solutions.

Other collaborative areas include, but not limited to, enhanced merchant acceptance, mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) and transit; payment gateways; cards-as-a-service (CaaS); white label services, API platform services and technical support services.

Both Soft Space and JCB are committed to accelerating cashless payment both in Malaysia and SEA by utilising competitive and advanced fintech technologies, thereby establishing a link between Japanese consumers to SEA.

"I am honoured to announce this investment and collaboration agreement. I believe this is not just an investment, but the first step towards realising the boundless possibility with Soft Space," said Yoshiki Kaneko, President & COO of JCB International Co. Ltd. "We are capitalising on this opportunity to expand and secure our business in SEA by utilising Soft Space's cutting-edge technology and robust network with the financial institutions. We are confident that this collaboration will go beyond Malaysia and expand across the globe."

"We are humbled by this investment by JCB," said Joel Tay, Chief Executive Officer of Soft Space. "Being JCB's first investee in Malaysia assures us that we are on track to develop financial solutions that will fortify payment acceptance between Japan and SEA, and benefit both regions when borders open up again. This bridge between our regions will also serve as a roadmap for us to enter other regions globally in the future."

Today, Soft Space has an expansive range of product offerings that span white-label e-wallet solutions to its flagship Tap to Phone technology, which is the world's first SoftPOS solution to support secure PIN entry. The solution has received endorsements from major card schemes such as Visa, UnionPay International, Mastercard and Malaysia's MyDebit, and has been deployed in some of the largest financial service institutions and corporate enterprises in the Middle East, North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific.

About Soft Space

Founded in 2012, Soft Space is the world's leading SoftPOS player headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Soft Space simplifies the complexity of financial infrastructure and creates value-added features for businesses to expand their business growth. With over 30 financial institutions across 10 countries adopting its payment solutions, Soft Space is supported by MDEC's Global Acceleration and Innovation Network (GAIN) programme and received financial support through MIDA's Domestic Investment Strategic Fund in 2012. In 2018, Soft Space ranked 66th out of 1000 companies in Financial Times 'FT 1000: High Growth Companies in Asia Pacific' Special Report. Subsequently in 2020, Soft Space is also recognised as one of IDC's Fastest Growing Company in 2020. For more information, please visit: https://www.softspace.com.my/

Brenda Lim
Communications Executive
Tel: +603 7494 1222
Email: [email protected]

About JCB

JCB is a major global payment brand and a leading credit card issuer and acquirer in Japan. JCB launched its card business in Japan in 1961 and began expanding worldwide in 1981. Its acceptance network includes about 37 million merchants around the world. JCB Cards are issued mainly in Asian countries and territories, with more than 140 million cardmembers. As part of its international growth strategy, JCB has formed alliances with hundreds of leading banks and financial institutions globally to increase its merchant coverage and cardmember base. As a comprehensive payment solution provider, JCB commits to providing responsive and high-quality service and products to all customers worldwide. For more information, please visit: www.global.jcb/en/

Ayaka Nakajima
Corporate Communications
Tel: +81-3-5778-8353
Email: [email protected]


Copyright 2022 JCN Newswire. All rights reserved. www.jcnnewswire.comThe world's leading fintech player, Soft Space Sdn. Bhd. ("Soft Space"), has announced a new strategic partnership with Japan's only international payment brand, JCB Co. Ltd. ("JCB").

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